Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[The Brain]

Who will likely be the next PM?

[Gups]

Chief whip has now resigned

[The Brain]

Catherine the Great brought more stable government than this.

[Sheilbh]

Who will likely be the next PM?

No idea.

It'll probably be a coronation not a contest (like when they got rid of IDS) and there's loads of technical obstacles but they will be surmounted. Personally if I was a Tory MP I'd go for Gove's idea of a "conclave" where the whole parliamentary party basically stay locked in a committee until they can settle on a candidate.

Honestly the Theresa May suggestion isn't a mad idea. If they're not going to have a contest and as everyone expects them to lose badly at the next election the job is to hold the party together until the election and lose with dignity. It could be one of them but if it's not a contest and it's not running to lead for a while it feels like it can't be someone from any particular faction or with serious ambitions - so it feels like that rules out Sunak, Mordaunt, Badenoch, Braverman etc. Similarly it can't be someone who lots of the MPs would object to which probably rules out Johnson, Hunt etc.

When they got rid of IDS they went for Michael Howard who was a respected veteran, former Home Secretary who obviously tried to win the next election but was probably too old (62) to have long term ambitions. So he was mainly seen as a unity canddate to steady the ship and act as a bridge to the next generation (Cameron, as it turned out). I can't think of many who could play a similar role now - maybe Gove (but some of the party hate him), or someone like May.

And reportedly the Chief Whip is gone after tonight's chaos.

[Valmy]

It is amazing that the Tories have this giant majority and can pretty much do whatever they want and there is nothing any of their opponents can do about it, and yet they seem unable to do much of anything besides flail around ineptly.

Sometimes the best way to discredit a political party is just to put it in power. The Tories obviously have zero ideas or purpose for existing right now. Maybe Labour has used its long time in the wilderness to come up with a few.

[The Brain]

but was probably too old (62) to have long term ambitions

*confused american noises*

[Richard Hakluyt]

A mere stripling 

[Sheilbh]

It is amazing that the Tories have this giant majority and can pretty much do whatever they want and there is nothing any of their opponents can do about it, and yet they seem unable to do much of anything besides flail around ineptly.

It's incredible. A potentially seismic re-alignment in British politics, a mandate for reforms and a bit majority - all of it wasted, or as Johnson would put it, spaffed up the wall.

It was always a bit dubious because it required work, graft and pretty relentless focus - none of which describe Johnson. But they had an opportunity most political parties/leaders would love.

[Sheilbh]

A selection of what's been happening tonight from various political reporteers. We don't have a government and my guess of how long Truss has got is no longer weeks but days or hours.

How the vote went:

Tom Larkin
@TomLarkinSky
🤯 Chris Bryant live on Sky with @SamCoatesSky describing the extraordinary scenes in the Commons tonight.

Says he saw 4 MPs, inc Deputy PM Therese Coffey and Jacob Rees-Mogg, physically man-handling another Tory MP into their voting lobby.

"I've never seen anything like this"

The whipping operation:

Steven Swinford
@Steven_Swinford
Chronology of the madness:

* Graham Stuart told by No 10 to announce 3-line whip suspended

* Nobody told chief whip Wendy Morton, who quit on spot

* Deputy chief whip Craig Whittaker also gone, he's 'absolutely fucking furious'

* Truss barracked by own MPs in voting lobby

Aubrey Allegretti
@breeallegretti
Chief whip Wendy Morton's position surely looking precarious - several Tory MPs saying she's gone.
Earlier, No 10 issued a flat denial she was leaving her job.
Morton was huddled at the back of the chamber just before the fracking vote result - looked aghast, speaking quietly with Jacob Rees-Mogg.

She disappeared a few mins later when Labour asked for clarity on whether she had resigned.
A Tory MP says the deputy chief whip, Craig Whittaker, just exclaimed as he exited the voting lobby: "I am fucking furious and I don't give a fuck anymore."
Another Tory MP says there was "the most bullying, screaming and shouting" they'd witnessed in the voting lobbies tonight.

They claim chief and deputy chief whip had a "full-blown shouting match" in front of the PM.

Truss "stormed through the lobbies", witnesses say

Adam Payne
@adampayne26
I'm told Wendy Morton walked into the corridor shouting "I'm no longer the chief whip" moments before the fracking vote took place, with Liz Truss just metres away

And one Tory MP speaking sense:

Aubrey Allegretti
@breeallegretti
Tory MP Charles Walker to @BBCNews:

"This whole affair is inexcusable. It is a pitiful reflection on the Conservative parliamentary party at every level."

Is there any coming back from this?

"I don't think so. As a Tory MP of 17 years... I think it's a shambles & a disgrace."
Tory MP Charles Walker lets loose:

"I really shouldn't say this, but I hope all those people that put Liz Truss in No 10 - I hope it was worth it, I hope it was worth it for the ministerial red box...

"I've had enough of talentless people."
More quiet fury from Charles Walker to @BBCNews.

"Unless we get our act together and behave like grown-ups, I'm afraid many hundreds of my colleagues - perhaps 200 - will be leaving, at the behest of their electorate.

"Patience, reached the limit."

Cabinet apparently talking about removing Truss as this is clearly unsustainable (and entirely self-inflicted!) - we need an election ASAP. This is a party desperate to be in opposition.

[The Brain]

The whipping operation looks kinda lame.

[Tonitrus]

Chaos in the Commons?  Maybe this is King Charles' chance to bring back some welly to the monarchy.   

[Sheilbh]

The interview with Sir Charles Walker:
https://twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/1582807892633485312?s=20&t=wtPooGS77Ddxi66GYDXvMA

[HisMajestyBOB]

I honestly can't picture Rees-Mogg successfully manhandling anyone. Dude looks like a toddler could beat him up and give him a wedgie.

[mongers]

No one would write this as a plausible fiction, it's just so bizarre, more like a tiff in the school common room?

But back in the real world, people's lives, the one's this political shower is largely ignoring.

[Admiral Yi]

I honestly can't picture Rees-Mogg successfully manhandling anyone. Dude looks like a toddler could beat him up and give him a wedgie.

He might be pretty good in a slap fight.

Too bad You Kay is going to miss out on the fracking revolution.